Crosswalk Stairway Serenade

"A wide-angle, street-level three-quarter view centers on a gleaming red double-decker halted at a bustling crosswalk on a tree-lined avenue, noon sun carving crisp shadows across sidewalk cafés and vendor stalls; an elderly street musician draws a melancholy tune on his violin beside a vendor cart heaped with glossy oranges while a tabby cat dozes on the curb and a large city pigeon preens on the bus roof, the citrus scent and the scrape of bow on string vivid in the air. In a quietly startling twist, the painted white crosswalk stripes fold up like paper into a narrow staircase that climbs into the sky, those stripes acting as leading lines off the pavement as ordinary pedestrians simply step onto the ascending stair and keep climbing while drivers and cyclists thread carefully around them. The image reads photorealistic and cinematic with high color saturation, warm reds and oranges offset by cool shadow accents, sharp in the foreground and softly blurred in the distance—lively, everyday, and just slightly uncanny."

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